Twelve posts of Christmas #11 - Christmas food

It won't surprise you to learn that I ate a lot over the festive period. I'm still eating a lot, but let's not dwell on that.

As well as all the usual Christmas snacks which suddenly become irresistible at this time of year, we were lucky enough to have five amazing meals over Christmas and New Year. I obviously have photographic evidence for all five, in preparation for this very blog post.

I'm not going to write a long explanation for these meals... the photos speak for themselves!

Christmas Day - Miller & Carter

Prosecco, hand rolled goat's cheese and walnut roulade, champagne sorbet,
turkey dinner, lemon tart, and a hot chocolate.

Boxing Day - my mother's dinner

Turkey AND chicken, and all the trimmings!

28th December - Neil's beef dinner

That gravy. Those roast potatoes. Those parsnips. YUM. 

New Year's Eve - Mint and Mustard

Taster menu:

Amuse Bouche;

Goan crab cake, water chestnut pattie, angara chicken tikka;

Champagne sorbet;

Guinea fowl kori gassi, mughlai lamb shank, dal panchratan, aloo katliya;

Berry parfait, almond halwa, pistachio kulfi

New Year's Day - my mother in law's dinner

Another beautiful turkey dinner with strawberry sorbet for dessert

Aaaaand I'll be going back to the gym tomorrow. Have you blogged about your Christmas meals? Please send me your links! 

Restaurant review: Wahaca

I visited Wahaca for the first time last weekend after hearing countless positive reviews... I can confirm that I wasn't disappointed.

I've heard loads about Wahaca over the last few months from various sources all over the country. A branch has recently opened in Cardiff so we decided to pop in for an early dinner last Saturday afternoon. The restaurant looked busy at first glance but we were seated straight away in the bright and airy ground floor area.

Wahaca has a massive menu with a range of large dishes and smaller dishes of Mexican street food to share. As it was my first visit, I decided to order one big main dish rather than lots of smaller ones as I didn't want to confuse myself too much... I was also very hungry (as usual) so didn't want to waste lots of time deciding on various combinations. However, Neil ordered some chicken taquitos to go with his burrito so I did sample some of those. The taquitos arrived about 20 seconds after Neil ordered them and were very tasty.

I decided to go for the Mexico City Board as it sounded aaaamazing. I love fajitas at the best of times, but I especially loved the variety of unique fillings offered at Wahaca. The chicken and bacon concoction sounded really delicious so I decided to give it a try. The menu states that the Mexico City Board is 'generous for one'... they're not wrong! 

My meal came with four little tortilla wraps, a generous helping of the divine chicken and bacon filling, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce and tortilla chips. The chicken and bacon had been cooked in lime and oregano and this is definitely the best fajita filling I've ever had at any restaurant. The whole meal was really delicious and I can't fault it at all. Even the salsa was out of this world, and I don't even like salsa as a general rule. Everything was just so tasty and cooked to perfection. No bland food in sight! 

I love the interior of Wahaca and the Cardiff branch is absolutely huge with three floors. The restaurant has a very relaxed vibe and is obviously popular with big parties of people as well as for couples. The staff were friendly and informative and our food arrived much quicker than you'd usually expect. Everything was fresh and colourful, and I particularly liked the pretty lights. 

The prices at Wahaca are very reasonable for the sheer amount of food you get. Neil's copious burrito was £6.95 and my meal was £10.25, which is considerably cheaper than the equivalent meal at Chimichanga or TGI Friday's. Although the soft drinks are expensive at £2.50 for a small bottle, this now seems to be the case in most restaurants. I definitely want to try a mocktail or cocktail next time we go to Wahaca, and we might try the Wahaca Selection to sample a few different dishes. I can't wait until our next visit!

Have you been to Wahaca? What did you think? 

Fake Christmas 2015

Fake Christmas is an age-old tradition... ten years old, in fact.

My friends and I celebrated our first ever Fake Christmas in 2004, during our first year at university. The idea was born when we decided to have our own very Christmas Day before we went home for actual Christmas. This involved Christmas dinner, Christmas presents, Christmas music... you get the picture. Someone referred to the day as 'Fake Christmas', and the name has stuck ever since.

I'm so glad we carried on the tradition after we left university as it's the one occasion we all attend without fail. As we all scattered to different places after we finished university, Fake Christmas now involves travelling to different parts of the country every year to the host's house. We've toured to Cardiff, London, Minehead and Milton Keynes so far! We also now meet in January rather than in December as it's so difficult to find a date before Christmas to suit everyone. It's also nice to have something to look forward to during the inevitable bleakness and diet-fest of January.

We travelled to Milton Keynes for the 2015 edition of Fake Christmas as Fee and Dave had kindly offered to host. Our partners have been invited for the last two years, so there were 11 of us present for this year's spectacular. Ten years since our very first Fake Christmas!

Kirsty is the Head Chef for Fake Christmas dinner due to her rather immense cooking skills... I particularly love Kirsty's cauliflower cheese, gravy and roast potatoes. I generally stick to chopping duty as I haven't got the slightest bit of experience when it comes to cooking roast dinners. The girls worked on the dinner in the kitchen while the boys played Wii U games in the lounge. This gave us a chance to catch up and to discuss our hilarious and rather catastrophic catalogue of ex boyfriends... those anecdotes never get old.

Our Christmas dinner was ready at around 5pm and was spectacular as per usual...

Mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, broccoli, carrots, sprouts fried with bacon, normal sprouts, parsnips, pigs in blankets, bread sauce, chicken, gravy, stuffing... ACTUALLY AMAZING. As yon can imagine, I was pretty full after eating this lot. 

However, there's always room for dessert. Liz has made a Christmas cake for the last few Fake Christmasses and the tenth anniversary was no exception. This year's cake was beautifully decorated (and tasted pretty good too), and Liz even bought a special anniversary decoration!

After dinner, the boys took over the kitchen to clean and wash the dishes and we retired to the lounge to exchange gifts. We decided that we'd only buy for one person this year instead of buying for the whole group as there are so many of us these days. I had lots of lovely presents from Kirsty including a Disney notebook, nail varnish, weekly memo board and a Love Hearts mug. 

When the boys re-joined us (leaving a sparkling kitchen in their wake), we proceeded with our other Secret Santa ceremony. In a nutshell, everyone spends £5 on the most rubbish/random collection of items they can find then the lucky recipients are randomly drawn on the day. This year's gifts included obscure children's toys, a goldfish pencil sharpener, chocolates, edible eyes, Tango shower gel, an expandable flannel, a One Direction annual and rucksack, a Rhydian CD, 'BOOM' party glasses... you get the idea. 

After the excitement of opening the presents and having a little mini slump/nap after food, we proceeded to play games on the Wii U until it was time for bed. Who knew that jumping over ski slopes, drawing pictures and racing animals could be so much fun? I don't enjoy video games as a general rule but even I had to admit that the Wii U games were so much fun. 

Fake Boxing Day is always sad because it means we're all going back to our respective homes and won't see each other again for a while. However, we've got Fee's hen weekend and wedding to look forward to in the next few months so all is not lost. 

Do you have any similar Christmas traditions with your friends or family? I'd love to read your posts if you've blogged about similar rituals!

Restaurant review: Prezzo

Neil and I went to Prezzo for dinner last Saturday night to celebrate our third anniversary. We went to Prezzo on our very first date in 2011 and again to celebrate our first anniversary, so we thought it was about time we went back for another special occasion.

We decided to go to the Prezzo restaurant in St David's 2 (Cardiff's newest shopping centre and food court) and booked a table for 6pm. As it happens, we needn't have booked as it was very quiet, but it's always best to be safe when you want to eat out promptly in Cardiff on a Saturday night. We didn't want to be hanging around for an hour waiting to be seated on our anniversary, and I don't deal well with waiting for food when I'm hungry!

We ordered a diet Coke each to start... we would usually splash out on some wine but we were going to the cinema after the meal and we're also busy saving money. Why does diet Coke always taste so much nicer when it's come from a posh glass bottle? Much more refreshing than a glass of wine on a hot day!

We always order a bread board to start in Prezzo as it's amazing, quite frankly. However, it does fill us up very quickly if we're not really starving before we start. Luckily, we were ravenous on Saturday so we relished the challenge of the bread board. 

The pesto and tomato bread is probably my favourite, but I also love the mozzarella and garlic pizza bread and the plain ciabatta with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The dips are so simple, but you can't beat a piece of plain ciabatta dipped in oil and balsamic. I just love bread! 

I love Prezzo's oven-baked Al Forno dishes so I chose the pollo carbonara for my main meal. I was a bit worried that it would be overly creamy as I'm not a big fan of carbonara that's been made with too much cream, but it was just right. It was a massive portion so I couldn't eat it all, but I really enjoyed it. It also made a nice change as I usually order pizza or tomato-based meals in Italian restaurants. There was loads of chicken in it... it's always nice when restaurants don't skimp on chicken! The cheese on the top was mild enough to complement the overall flavour rather than overpower it, and the spaghetti was lovely and tender. Thumbs up!

We decided against ordering dessert as we were both so full... the gelato burger did sound intriguing though! Maybe next time. 

Although Prezzo is slightly more expensive on average than some of the other Italian restaurants in Cardiff, it is a lovely restaurant with an upmarket feel to it so I think the price is justified for a special occasion. Our meal cost approximately £34 for two diet Cokes, a sharing starter and two main meals. This might be on the expensive side for our normal Saturday meals, but some would probably consider this quite a cheap meal for an anniversary!

Have you ever been to Prezzo? What did you think? 

Restaurant Review: Buffalo

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll already know that I love food and consequently love trying out new restaurants.

I've been to Buffalo for drinks in the past but I'd never been for food there until a few weeks ago. My friend and I were long overdue a catch up, so he suggested that we meet in Buffalo for lunch last Monday. We met at 1pm and it was surprisingly and pleasantly quiet. This meant we could catch up in peace and didn't have to wait long for our food.

Buffalo have a '2 meals for £10' deal during the week... I love a good bargain, especially when it comes to food. Does this really surprise you? After debating for a while between having a ciabatta or a panini, I decided to go for the barbecue chicken and bacon panini with chunky chips. I am a big fan of bread based products, in case you didn't already know! I might have a minor (ok, major) carb obsession.

I haven't had a panini for ages so this was a lovely change. The bread was perfectly crispy and the filling was pretty generous. Who doesn't love the excellent combination of chicken, bacon and barbecue sauce?Unfortunately the serving of chips wasn't quite as generous... I only had about 10. The tiny portion of chips was disappointing as they were truly amazing, but I (grudgingly) suppose the small portion was better for my waistline. They were properly chunky, rugged and nicely salted, and I could have eaten about 4 of these tiny bowls! 

In case you're wondering, I didn't eat the salad. Do I sound like someone who likes salad?

I would definitely eat in Buffalo again, especially if I happen to be looking for somewhere reasonable to eat in town during the week. The staff were very friendly which always helps, and £5 for a panini and chips in a quiet restaurant is a bargain these days. 

Have you been to Buffalo recently? What did you think?

Ten things I love about Christmas

Did you all have a brilliant Christmas? Are you all still full of food and wearing your onesie/Christmas jumper? After having a lovely build up (including Fake Christmas with Neil last weekend) and a great Christmas Day yesterday, I thought I'd write a quick blog post about the ten things I love most about Christmas. It was very difficult to whittle it down to 10, believe me!


1. The food

Food just has to be on top of any list about the best bits of Christmas. Or is it that just me? It's the only time of year where I can totally justify eating as much as I want without worrying about calorie counting, going to the gym, eating healthily and so on. Although my mother's beautiful Christmas dinner is always the highlight, I also love having trifle and cold chicken at tea time, ice cream and chocolate at random intervals throughout the day and copious amounts of sweets and crisps. I love food!

2. The stockings

I love our stocking tradition and will be quite sad when this tradition comes to an end. Ever since I can remember, my siblings and I (just my brother and I in recent years) have got up early to open our stockings, then we run downstairs to see the presents under the tree before waking our parents if our squeals of excitement haven't woken them already. Although we had proper woolly stockings stuffed with presents when we were younger, we've had big gift bags for the last few years as they're a lot more practical. I had fluffy socks, a DVD, chocolates, sweets, pretty stationery, toiletries and much more in my stocking this year... long live stockings!

3. The presents

I still get excited about all the presents given to me, but I also get just as excited about seeing other people's faces when I give them their presents. I think this is a sign that I'm getting older! I had lots of lovely presents from my family on Christmas Day this year including DVDs, books, pyjamas, baking things and perfume, but I think my favourite present was my new pair of beautiful boots from Fat Face.

4. The standard Christmas Day outfit

I definitely don't go out to buy a dress specifically for Christmas Day. Who needs a dress when you can wear fluffy pyjamas and a hoodie? I'm afraid there's no photo of me in my Christmas Day outfit... I don't think people need to see that.



5. The chocolate

I know chocolate should come under the 'Food' heading, but it just has to have its own place on the list. I would stop myself in horror on an ordinary day if I decided to eat half a mini box of Quality Street chocolates before 10am. However, on Christmas Day, this is perfectly acceptable. This might be a hotly debated topic, but Quality Street are by far the best Christmas chocolates!

6. The tree

I love Christmas trees and published a blog post last week on my favourite Christmas trees of the year. There's nothing better than sitting around in pyjamas around the Christmas tree with the Christmas lights on! There's something very comforting about a Christmas tree... have I said 'Christmas tree' too much in this paragraph?

7. The company

Christmas is such a great time to spend quality time with my parents, my siblings, Neil, the in laws and my handsome little nephew. Everyone comes together from various corners of the UK, no one needs to rush away, everyone wants to catch up on each other's news and the camaraderie is brilliant. It's a shame we can't all be in the same room more often!



8. The novelty crackers

Who doesn't love crackers and their random novelty gifts? Yesterday we acquired two pairs of tweezers, two little packets of playing cards, a bottle opener and lots of paper hats.

9. The relaxation

I'm usually super busy all year round and find it hard to sit down and do nothing, so Christmas is a great chance to just relax, recharge the batteries and indulge in some guilt-free reading. Does December have to come to an end?



10. The films

I love the films that regularly get rolled out for Christmas. Home Alone 1 and 2, Santa Claus the Movie, all Disney films, Nativity, The Santa Clause, Elf, Jingle all the Way, Muppets' Christmas Carol... who doesn't love these films? Yesterday we managed to watch Toy Story 3, Home Alone 2, Muppets' Christmas Carol and Nativity 2. Christmas film fest!

What do you love most about Christmas? I'm sure there are lots of blog posts floating around on this topic so feel free to send me some links!

Restaurant review: Mission Burrito

I blogged about my restaurant wishlist a few weeks ago, and Mission Burrito is the first place on the list we've managed to venture to. We've had a busy few weeks! Cardiff's branch of Mission Burrito has only been open for a month or so, and the smell wafting out of there is always amazing as you walk past. We decided to pop in last weekend for our lunch.

After staring at the menu for a while because I tend to get confused if there are lots of different options, I decided on the chicken fajita burrito. I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of chicken they loaded on to the wrap... probably more meat than I'd eaten during the last fortnight put together. I also had rice, peppers, onions, salsa verde, sour cream and cheese.

The counter and ordering process at Mission Burrito aren't dissimilar to the system in Subway, but you have about five times more food.

Once your wrap has been filled until it's about to burst, it's wrapped up in foil and given to you to tackle in the most ladylike manner possible. Good luck with this... I definitely didn't succeed with the 'ladylike' part and managed to get burrito juice everywhere. Totally worth the mess though!

I've never tried salsa verde before, but it really added something to the burrito. It helps that I love coriander, even though I'd never have thought of putting coriander in a burrito myself. The chicken was also seasoned with their chipotle sauce which was really tasty, and peppers and onions are always going to improve any burrito. Or any meal, for that matter.

My very messy burrito...

Has anyone else been to Mission Burrito yet? What did you think? I'll definitely be going back very soon!

Christmas tag #2

I took part in my first Christmas tag over a fortnight ago, so it's now acceptable to take part in another one. I'm especially excited that this one is being published on 1st December, so I've just opened my first advent calendar window.

These questions are from Makeup Pixi3's blog... I've just been trawling the internet for Christmas tags. That's how much I love talking/writing about Christmas!

Some of the questions are similar to the first post I did, but I'm going to answer them anyway. Did I mention that I love Christmas?

Giant Christmas tree in Ikea

1. Do you prefer a real Christmas tree or synthetic?
I've never had a real Christmas tree, so I'd have to say I prefer synthetic. I think the mess caused by a real Christmas tree would drive me mad! I also like the idea of being able to roll out the same Christmas tree every year rather than struggling home with a new one every Christmas.

2. You're in a coffee shop, it's December, what do you pick?
A skinny hot chocolate. I do occasionally try the Christmas varieties such as Costa's Honeycomb hot chocolate, but I do love a good old plain hot chocolate.

3. Whats your favourite colour scheme for decorating the tree?
I'm not fussy, I like it to be as colourful as possible! The main colours are usually gold and red, but I always throw in a bit of silver, pink, green and blue too.

4. Giving or receiving?
I do love giving presents and I really enjoy choosing presents for other people and seeing their reactions, but receiving them is pretty good too! I still lie awake with excitement for hours on Christmas Eve when I think about the presents I'll be opening the next morning. I'm just a big kid at heart.

5. To mince pie or not to?
To mince pie! I refused to eat them for years because I thought I'd hate them (I thought they'd taste of meat which put me off...), but they're actually extremely tasty. I always eat them cold though which seems odd to some people. I'm just not a fan of warm mince pies.

6. What's your traditional Sunday lunch?
We always have chicken rather than turkey for Christmas lunch as we all prefer chicken. We also have little pigs in blankets, peas, carrots, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, stuffing, gravy... I think that's everything! We then have lovely ice cream for dessert, and maybe a festive swiss roll. Who needs Christmas pudding when you've got ice cream?

7. Christmas day fashion?
Fashion? I wear pyjamas and a hoodie!

8. What's your favourite Christmas song?
Nothing beats 'Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day'. I also have a childish love for 'Santa Claus is coming to town', even though I remain terrified of Santa Claus. Long story.

9. What's your favourite Christmas film?
I can't choose just one... Home Alone 1 and 2, Santa Claus the Movie, Nativity, Nightmare before Christmas, Muppets' Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street are a few favourites off the top of my head.

10. Open presents before or after lunch?
Before, obviously! We'd never be patient enough to wait until after lunch.


25 days to go! Has anyone else got any Christmas tags to share? There's still time...

Restaurant review: The Claude

The Claude is a huge pub situated at the end of Albany Road at the very edge of Cardiff's Student Land. I'm aware that it doesn't actually qualify as a proper 'restaurant', but I had lunch there last weekend and the food rivalled a lot of restaurants I've eaten in recently. It therefore qualifies for a restaurant review!

The menu has lots of different options and deals, just like your typical pub menu, and all the choices are extremely reasonable. I decided to opt for the chicken fajitas for £5.99. Those of you who eat chicken fajitas in restaurants regularly will know that they're never this cheap! I wasn't expecting great wonders, but it was one of the healthier options on the menu.

When everyone's food started arriving at the table, we knew we were in for a treat. All the meals were huge! The fajitas came with countless strips of chicken, peppers, onions, sour cream, cheese, salsa and three large wraps. I've eaten a lot of fajitas in my time, and these were definitely better than the fajitas I've had in the Harvester and in T.G.I. Friday's. The spice they used on the chicken was amazing! I was also very happy with the large wraps provided as it's always a bit of a mission when you're trying to fit everything in to the tiny little wraps provided in T.G.I. Friday's. I finished every little bit of the fajita mix and genuinely didn't need to eat again for the whole day. 

The pub was pretty busy and rowdy while we were there as there was football on the big screens, but it was still a nice place to have a meal and a catch up. It's a very family friendly pub as well as being ideal for students and people eating out on a budget (me).

I don't visit the Albany Road area of Cardiff very often, but I'll definitely be tempted to go back to the Claude when we do visit in the future. These fantastic fajitas followed by a Joe's Ice Cream Sundae from the next street along... what more could you possibly ask for?

Restaurant review: Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is the newest restaurant in the St David's 2 food court, so obviously we had to try it. We've walked past and looked at the menu on a few occasions but have always chosen somewhere else at the last minute. However, we decided to pay a visit last weekend as we were looking for somewhere healthy to eat and Mount Fuji is probably the healthiest option in the food court.

Mount Fuji always looks very quiet which isn't necessarily a good sign, but at least it means you get seated and seen to straight away. The menu is fairly limited compared to other Japanese restaurants I've been to (like Tenkaichi on City Road), but there were still a few options I could have gone for. We chose Chicken Teriyaki for our starter, and I went for the Yakiniku (beef) stir fry for my main course. Those aren't the exact names for the dishes... I didn't write them down and there's no menu available online to find out the authentic names!

Chicken Teriyaki

The chicken teriyaki was extremely tasty and I couldn't fault it at all. The chicken was very tender and the breadcumb coating was amazing. The sauce itself was lovely too, and it was a massive portion. I'm very glad we ordered one portion between the two of us! I must admit that I didn't eat many of the lettuce leaves... why waste valuable stomach space with lettuce when you can eat real food?

This is actually Neil's pork stir fry... the waitress got them mixed up 

and I took the photograph before we realised!

My main course was delicious too, although it didn't score quite as highly as the starter did. Although it was very tasty, everything was cooked to perfection and the portion size was just right, the beef wasn't quite as good as the beef I've had in Tenkaichi. It was slightly too chewy for my liking, but that might have been their intention. I've just been spoilt by my frequent visits to Tenkaichi and their amazing Yakiniku! 

This meal was very reasonable at approximately £22 for two main meals and a massive starter, and I would definitely visit again. The staff were very friendly and there was a nice general vibe in the restaurant. Has anyone else been to Mount Fuji yet? What did you think?

Restaurant review: Nando's

Nando's is definitely a regular favourite of mine. There are two Nando's restaurants in Cardiff city centre, and one in Cardiff Bay. My favourite is the restaurant in the Brewery Quarter in town, as the other two are always so busy. The one in St Davids 2 is also full of giggling teenagers and always has a massive queue, so we try to avoid that one. It is the biggest restaurant out of the three, but definitely not the most pleasant. In my opinion, the Brewery Quarter has a much nicer atmosphere than the food court at St Davids 2 too.

Last Saturday evening, we wanted something quick to eat before heading to the cinema and decided we were in the mood for some Nando's goodness. We went to the Brewery Quarter restaurant and were seated straight away without having to wait. Quite rare for a Saturday night in Cardiff!

I don't think I've ever sat at table number 1 before...

I'm not sure why I even look at the menu any more in Nando's as I always tend to have the same thing. I love their chicken wraps, I love their chips, I love their halloumi from the 'sides' menu and I love their lemon and herb sauce. Simples!

The food came really quickly, and the chips and halloumi were amazing as always. My wrap was very spicy this time for some reason though, a bit too much chilli jam I suspect I don't mind spicy food, but when I choose the lemon and herb sauce I don't expect much spice. The salad was also quite dry, so it wasn't the best wrap I've ever had. Still, it was a lovely and filling meal as usual.

Nando's feast

I'm yet to meet anyone who doesn't like a good Nando's meal from time to time... is there anybody out there who can prove me wrong?